"A short one that would be over in days."
-- Lieut. General Sir Peter de la Billiere, British commander in Saudi Arabia, describing a potential war with Iraq
"History tells us there can be no antiseptic war, and history is right."
-- Retired U.S. Army General John Merritt
The battle is the payoff, as the ancient saying goes, and only battle can settle the question of what a war between the U.S.-led alliance and Iraq would be like. Would it be a brief though explosive clash in which American air power would quickly prevail with relatively light casualties? A long, grinding...